Synagogue Suing Maryland County Over the Right of Armed Self Protection

Three years after the October 7, 2023, surprise antisemitic multi-pronged invasion and massacre across 119 locations in Israel by 6,000 militants and civilians of Hamas, Palestinian Islamic Jihad, and allied armed groups from the Gaza Strip—killing at least 1,195 people, wounding roughly 3,400 people, and abducting 251 as hostages—the Orthodox Jewish congregation, known as Congregation Ahavas Yisrael, in the Washington, DC, suburb of Silver Spring, Maryland, prompted by that atrocity, has five trained congregants on its security team who carry guns.

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The congregation is now suing Montgomery County, Maryland, which passed a law in July 2026 prohibiting the carrying of firearms in or within 100 yards of houses of worship.

[ Read the SemperVerus article, Armed Congregants & Considerations for Synagogue Security ]

Congregation members believe an armed security team is critical to their safety. The synagogue convinced Senior US District Judge Deborah K. Chasanow to issue an emergency order to block Montgomery County’s ban on firearms inside the synagogue. The judge ruled the ban on carrying firearms inside a place of worship likely violates both the Second Amendment and the First Amendment’s Free Exercise Clause.

[ Read the SemperVerus article, Church Security Review: House of Worship Firearms and Use of Force Policy ]

But the synagogue is still asking the judge to expand its preliminary injunction to also include the carrying of guns within 100 yards of the synagogue. Technically, right now, members of the security team cannot legally walk to the synagogue with a gun.

[ Read the SemperVerus article, A List of Active Killer Incidents at Houses of Worship and Religious Schools ]

Read the complete Religion News Service article here.

[ Read the SemperVerus article, Benefit From the Church Emergency Response Network ]

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